


Until You're Over Me

by noblydonedonnanoble



Series: The Road We Never Drove On [2]
Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-29
Updated: 2012-06-29
Packaged: 2017-11-08 19:29:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/446695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/noblydonedonnanoble





	Until You're Over Me

                Not long after Catherine returned to London from LA, she got a call from Adam.

                “I hear you’re back home.”

                “For a little while, yeah. Why? Do you want to meet up, maybe get some lunch?” It had been months since they’d seen each other, and Catherine really wanted to tell him about everything in her life that had changed since moving to LA.

                “Actually, I’m having a dinner party later this week, wondering if you wanted to come.”

                A dinner party! “That sounds fun! Of c—oh. Well, Adam, what about…” David.

                She didn’t have to actually say anything, because Adam knew there was only one person who could possibly deter her from coming. “He’s going to be out of town with Georgia… Romantic weekend away in the country. Not coming home ‘til the next afternoon, isn’t that a shame?”

                “Oh, yes, such a shame.” Catherine bit her lip. There was a time when she would have been devastated that David couldn’t make it to a party a mutual friend of theirs was having. Oh, how things had changed. “What day is it?”

                “Saturday night.”

                 “I actually was going to have dinner with Alex on Saturday…” Saying it to Adam felt weird. She wasn’t sure how he would react.

                “Alex? That’s… that’s fantastic, Catherine.” She could tell that he meant it, and it made her smile a little. “Perhaps I should have called and made plans for lunch, because it sounds like you’ve got things to tell me. But by all means, bring him with you.”

                “Yeah… Okay. Sure, we’ll come. I’ll just double-check with him to make sure he’s alright with it, but I see no reason why he shouldn’t be.”

                And so Catherine found herself standing outside of Adam’s house, Alex on her arm and a bottle of wine in her hand. When Adam let them inside, he nudged Catherine a bit and nodded in the direction of Alex. She made a face at him while Alex was looking somewhere else.

                 There were six or seven other guests already congregated in Adam’s sitting room, and Catherine was absolutely delightful—she made conversation with people and worked the room a little, while still somehow managing to give Alex a majority of her attention.

                But then the doorbell rang. From Adam’s expression, Catherine could tell that nobody else was supposed to be coming and internally, she began to panic.

                This panic only increased when Adam returned to the room approximately thirty seconds later, David trailing close behind.

                She saw him scan the room. She saw his eyes land on her, and saw the way he started to stand a little taller. She saw his face light up.

                And then she saw his eyes fall back to Alex, sitting beside her. His expression grew solemn and when he looked away and began talking to Adam, she felt some sort of small victory.

                A very, very small victory.

                Catherine avoided him for as long as possible. When it felt like it would be rude to not say anything to him for any longer, she began to make her way over to him. Perhaps David was just waiting for that to happen, because as soon as he saw her coming over, he started to walk toward her.

                “Hello David.”

                “Hi Catherine.”

                They paused for a few seconds and just stared at each other. He opened his mouth first. “Catherine, I—“

                “Hey guys, dinner’s ready so if you don’t mind we’re all gonna move to the dining room.” When she looked at Adam, he was looking directly at her with an expression that said _you’re welcome_. That was a relief.

                When David sat down directly across from her at the table, she no longer felt very relieved.

                Catherine talked to Alex. She talked to Adam. She talked to all of the other guests. She _did not_ talk to David. She didn’t even look at him if she could help it.

                And then his foot bumped hers under the table.

                She considered the idea that it was an accident, but with David such things are very rarely accidents.

                It kept happening sporadically; sometimes three times within a minute, sometimes five or even ten minutes before it happened again. But every time it happened, she glanced at him, and he was watching.

                Then he started talking to Alex. Polite conversation, but Catherine could hear the condescension dripping from his voice. She’d never heard David sound quite so patronizing.

                One concerned look sent Adam’s way, and he got David’s attention, asking him about his trip. With his wife.

                While it seemed like David took the hint, he kept bumping their feet together.

                After dinner, Adam brought them all out to his backyard. They sat on lawn chairs together, and this time Catherine sat as far away from David as possible. She kept conversation going with others constantly so that he couldn’t initiate anything with her.

                Eventually, Alex leaned over and asked if she was ready to leave. Yes. Of course. Anything to get away, out of this uncomfortable situation.

                They got all the way to his car before she realized she’d left her bag in Adam’s backyard.

                David was waiting in the dark hallway when she came in, her bag in his hand. He smiled a little bit and she did her best to smile back, taking it from him and turning to get back to Alex.

                But then she paused and looked back at him. “David. Why did you come tonight? Adam said you weren’t going to be here.” She lowered her eyes. “If I knew you’d show up, I wouldn’t have come.”

                “Georgia and I…” Catherine had a tendency of hating every sentence that came out of his mouth that began with _Georgia_ and she got the feeling that this would be no different. “We had a row. Weren’t feeling too romantic anymore. So we drove home early, and I figured better to come here than sit around moping at home in an uncomfortable situation. Besides which…” First a sentence starting with _Georgia_ , and then _besides which_? Why had Catherine turned around? Why had she not gone back out to Alex and just left? “Besides which I knew you would be here. I wanted to see you.”

                “Why?” As soon as the word came out of her mouth she hated herself. Because even though she wanted to know, she didn’t want to give David the opportunity to tell her.

                His next words came out as a whisper, although Catherine had no idea whether it was intentional or not. “Because I miss you, Catherine. I’m going crazy missing you.”

                No she didn’t need to hear that that was exactly what she needed to _not_ hear and he was looking at her with such a tragic expression on his face and she didn’t know what to say. “David, you… you can’t miss me. We agreed on this together, remember? We agreed that it was better to stay away from each other. We agreed that was the best thing to do.”

                “I thought it was. I thought it would resolve everything if I stayed away from you. But this isn’t resolving. This is just running.”

                Catherine didn’t have a response. Because she was running. She wanted to run away as fast as she could and avoid him for the rest of eternity. A man she’d once considered her best friend, and she wanted to stay away from him forever.

                When it became clear that she wasn’t going to argue with him, David continued. “This is killing me, not having you in my life. Seeing you tonight has just reminded me of what I’m missing.” He glanced in the direction of the front door, as though concerned that someone would barge in if he said what was on his mind. “It reminded me of what someone else is able to have with you.”

                “You had a chance for that. Now it’s gone.” Catherine knew Alex was probably wondering about her. She knew she should end the conversation before he came looking.

                “No.”

                “What do you mean, _no_? You’re married. I’m trying to date a man, a man I like very much. And you’re trying to tell me _no_ , that your chance _isn’t_ gone?”

                David took a step closer to her. “I’m telling you ‘no’ because of the way you look at me. I love you, and you still love me. Therefore, not gone. So why the fuck am I not in your life?”

                “I don’t love you.” The words sounded feeble to Catherine, and she didn’t doubt that he heard how hesitant she was.

                “Bull shit.”

                He closed all of the distance between them. One of his hands went to her waist and the other to her neck as he kissed her. For just a second, he seemed worried that she would wrench herself away, but when she started to fall into the kiss he immediately became more forceful, pressing her against the wall and allowing his tongue to wander her mouth.

                And she kissed him back, because he was right—she did love him. She wanted him in her life. Her right hand flew to his hair and her fingers ran through it. God, she’d missed his hair.

                But then she started to think about why she hadn’t been able to do this. Why they’d been staying away. Because he was married. Because he had a daughter.

                Plus, she had a man waiting outside for her. A really, really great man.

                Catherine pushed David away so abruptly that he stumbled backward, almost running into a table. He looked at her, so clearly hurt and confused. It was all Catherine could do not to pull him to her again. “No. You’re not thinking straight.”

                He shook his head adamantly. “I know what I’m doing. I know what I want.”

                “I know what I want too.” Her eyes were beginning to well up with tears. “I want to get over you. I'm _trying_. So hard. And I can't. Because every time I see you it's the same. Your eyes follow me and you say things and you do things like this and I just... Every time I see you it's like I’m falling for you all over."

                Somewhere in the middle of all of that, Catherine began to cry. It was making her eye make-up run, but she didn’t particularly care. Seeing her so upset pained David, partially because he didn’t like it on principle, but also because he was the one making her like this. He stumbled over something to say, anything. “Catherine, I… I don’t… I just…”

                She waited for longer than was probably necessary to see if he would give her some sort of actual response, but finally she just sighed and said, “David, please. Don’t you want to see me happy?”

                He pouted—actually pouted. “I want to see you happy with me.”

                "I can't be happy with you. So let me be happy without you, instead of unhappy around everyone. Forget me, David. Let me forget."

                They gazed at each other in silence for an abnormally long amount of time. Finally, David stepped forward a little and nodded. Catherine was the one, this time, closing the distance between them. She wrapper her arms around him and he pulled her close. Her head settled between his neck and chin, but then she looked up at him and he kissed her, softly.

                When they broke apart, she looked up at him, an actual smile almost forming. But then she sees the expression on his face—something that can only be described as alarm. His eyes weren’t on her, but were instead focused behind her.

                Alex was standing in the doorway. He didn’t look sad; he didn’t look angry; he looked like something had just fallen to place in his mind. And he stared at them both for just a second before turning and walking out the door again.

                Before David knew what was happening, Catherine was out of his arms and running after Alex. “Wait, Alex, stop! That wasn’t what it looks like…”

                He stopped in the middle of Adam’s front lawn. Turned and looked at her. Now, he looked angry. Clearly not the best excuse she’d ever used. “Oh. Really. Please, tell me what it was if it wasn’t what it looked like. Because to _me_ , it looks like you were just in your friend’s house, kissing _another_ one of your friends—who, I should probably add, has a wife and child at home—while you’re supposed to be on a date with me. So if that’s not what was happening, by all means, explain.”

                “I… He… We…” Catherine took a deep breath. She didn’t know where to begin explaining her and David, because she hardly understood them; how could she get Alex to understand? “During _Much Ado_ —“

                “Stop. I don’t want to hear anything else.” He turned away from her again, walking the rest of the way to his car. She followed him the whole way.

                He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. Catherine stood next to the door, gazing at him until he lowered the window. "Catherine… If you're going to kiss another man while you're supposed to be on a date with me, the least you could do is kiss someone who isn't married."

                There was nothing left to say. She let him drive off, tears falling anew.

                She went back inside with the intent of asking Adam for a ride home, but David was still standing there waiting for her. “Is everything alright, Catherine?”

                Is everything alright. He actually had the nerve to ask her if everything was alright. She scowled at him and strode forward, stopping when they were mere inches apart. “ _Is everything alright_? You’ve ruined me, David. And I found a really good man—a man who likes me, a man I like. _A man who isn’t married_ and now I don’t know if he’ll ever want to come near me again and it’s all—“ She punched him in the chest. “your—“ Another punch. “fucking—“ Another one. “fault!” She let out a gut-wrenching sob and pounded on his chest a few more times.

                “Catherine,” David spoke softly, and he brought his hands up to try and stop her from hitting him. “Calm down, darling. Stop for a second and think.”

                “Don’t tell me to fucking calm down! You don’t understand! You can leave here and go home to your wife and your daughter and be the great big, magnificent family man, while I go back to my fucking empty flat by myself and sit around alone again because thanks to you I’ve managed to go and hurt the only man in the country who’s apparently willing to fuck me. Except, it seems, you, and you’re fucking _married._ ” That last sentence was the one that broke her. She stopped hitting him. Her fists fell to rest on his chest. “Why the fuck do you have to be married?”

                When Catherine looked up at him, she was a mess. Her make-up was all over the place, her eyes were puffy. Her face was red, soaked with tears.

                David thought she looked flawless. He pulled her into his arms, and she practically melted against him while her crying slowly diminished to occasional sniffling.

                “Let me take you home.” He said at last.

                She nodded before she really realized what she was doing. He pulled away and took her hand.

                “Catherine? David? What’s going on? Why are you still here, Catherine? And where’s Alex?” Adam had just appeared from the backyard, and he was looking at Catherine with such concern that it killed her a little.

                “Alex, um… Alex left.”

                Adam’s gaze drifted downward to see David and Catherine’s hands clasped together. She immediately felt like she’d been caught by her mother doing something she knew all along was bad. “Catherine, darling, you don’t look like you’re in the best condition. Why don’t you stay here tonight? I can bring you home in the morning.”

                He was making her choose. All three of them knew how much of a gamble the statement was. David expected her to choose him; Catherine was leaning toward him by default; even Adam, really, thought that David was the more likely choice.

                “I can drive her home, Adam, it’s no trouble.”

                She looked between the two men. Her best friend, and someone… someone who was a best friend. And then a lover. And then a… something. Whatever it was that they had become.

                All of a sudden, Catherine made a choice. She let go of David’s hand and said, “Okay Adam, I’ll stay.”

                David looked at her like she’d just slapped him, but she was pointedly avoiding his gaze. Adam raised his eyebrows at David, and the hint was taken. He murmured, “See you, Catherine.”

                That night, Catherine stood in the doorway while Adam prepared the guest room for her. She said, “I hope you know why I made the decision that I did.”

                He glanced up at her. “I do.”

                Maybe if she hurt David enough, he’d move on.

                And then maybe she’d be able to move on too.


End file.
